scholarly journals Binding Relations and Their Implications for Word Order in Arabic

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 1018-1024
Author(s):  
Mamdouh Ayed Alenazy
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Binding Theory ◽  
Possessive Pronoun ◽  
Modern Standard Arabic ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
Basic Assumptions ◽  
Condition B ◽  
Modern Standard

This study aims at investigating the distribution of the possessive pronouns in Modern Standard Arabic. It shows that when the possessive pronouns are used as reflexives they have implications for the word order. The different positions occupied by the objects are determined by the presence of these pronouns and the binding relations within the c-commanding domain. Building on the basic assumptions of Binding Theory, possessive pronouns are best treated as normal pronominal elements which are subject to condition B. However, when they are used as anaphoric elements in certain contexts, they have to be c-commanded by their antecedents. Depending on the derivational level at which c-command relation is established between the reflexive possessive pronoun and its antecedent, movement of the possessive pronoun along with the phrase containing is optional in certain structures or, in other structures, the pronoun becomes frozen in the position in which it is base-generated.

scholarly journals R-Expressions and the Interrogative Use of Anaphora in Najdi Arabic

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Mahmoud S. Al Mahmoud
Keyword(s):  
Central Region ◽  
Arabian Peninsula ◽  
Proper Names ◽  
Binding Theory ◽  
Modern Standard Arabic ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
Najdi Arabic ◽  
Modern Standard

This paper endeavors to explain how Najdi Arabic (NA), one of the dialects spoken in the central region of the Arabian Peninsula, diverges from Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) in its anaphoric treatment of R-expressions and pronominals. Data from a native Najdi Arabic informant suggest that only a subset of NA verbs allow proper names to be referentially bound by their antecedent pronouns in interrogative structures. Although this property is characteristic of Najdi Arabic not MSA, it yields certain challenges to the basic tenets of the Binding Theory. While Principle C of the Binding Theory requires R-expressions to be free, a referential reading of the NA data, which syntactically binds proper names with their pronominal referents, violates such principle. 

scholarly journals Different Gender, Different Arabic? The Case of Israel

1970 ◽  
Vol 71 ◽  
pp. 32
Author(s):  
Torkel Lindquist
Keyword(s):  
Women Writers ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Sentence Length ◽  
Modern Standard Arabic ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
The Past ◽  
Modern Standard

The present article indicates that women and men write different Arabic in the Israeli press. These differences are observable in the frequency of main and secondary clauses (i.e. in sentence length and in variation), in word order, in the frequency of clauses containing adjectives, as well as those containing adverbs. We see these differences in the frequency of verbs without any visible noun, as well as in the choice of conjunction and the choice of particle of negating the past. These variations in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) are due to the gender of the reader, as is the case with adjectives, where women writers use markedly fewer adjectives than men do, except when writing for men. But the variation is otherwise dependent on the gender of the writer. This alternation is not between grammatical or ungrammatical Arabic. Indeed, both genders write correct Arabic. Instead it is (mostly) a question of choice, of style.

scholarly journals Reflexives and Reciprocals in English and Modern Standard Arabic: An Investigation and a Comparison

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 955-968
Author(s):  
Shaimaa Darwish
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Arab Countries ◽  
Prepositional Phrase ◽  
Binding Theory ◽  
Modern Standard Arabic ◽  
Morphological Marker ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
Internal Argument ◽  
Literary Arabic ◽  
Modern Standard

The aim of this paper is to investigate the typology of reflexives and reciprocals in English and MSA, which is a variety of standardized, literary Arabic used throughout Arab countries. It has shown that MSA morphologically encoded reflexives and reciprocals are in fact syntactically and semantically asymmetrical. It will be argued that morphologically encoded reflexives do not project an anaphor (an internal argument) syntactically and their morphological marker semantically serves as a reflexivizer, whereas morphologically encoded reciprocals do project an anaphor syntactically, realized either overtly or covertly. Concerning the distribution of such anaphor, the paper elucidates the admissible and in admissible environments. It is argued that MSA does not allow possessive reflexives, but allow possessive reciprocals such as the construct-state, whether it be a noun phrase or a locative prepositional phrase. This variation is accounted for by assuming that reciprocals occupy Spec of DP and therefore can be bound by an NP from a higher phase, whereas reflexives occupy a position lower than the D head and thus must be bound within their DP phase. Finally yet importantly, MSA override reflexives and reciprocals unlike their English counterparts, are always subject to the Principle A of the Binding Theory.

Record your Agree: A case study of the Arabic complementizerʔinn

2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARWAN JARRAH
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Interface Condition ◽  
Modern Standard Arabic ◽  
Jordanian Arabic ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
Complementary Distribution ◽  
Case Marking ◽  
Lebanese Arabic ◽  
Modern Standard

This research investigates the morpho-syntactic behaviour of the Arabic complementizerʔinnin a range of Arabic varieties (Modern Standard Arabic, Jordanian Arabic, and Lebanese Arabic). It essentially argues that this complementizershares(notdonatesorkeeps,paceOuali 2008, 2011) its unvalued$\unicode[STIX]{x1D719}$-features with its complement$\text{T}^{0}$, something that makesʔinnand$\text{T}^{0}$separate agreeing heads. An inflectional suffix attached toʔinnis treated as a PF reflex (i.e. an overt morphological realization) of valuation ofʔinn’s unvalued$\unicode[STIX]{x1D719}$-features or lack thereof. This research also argues that the occurrence of such an inflectional suffix is ruled by the postulatedAgree Chain Record, an interface condition that demands an Agree relation to have a PF reflex, called aRecord(i.e. an overt Case marking on the goal or, if not, a$\unicode[STIX]{x1D719}$-affix on the probe). This way, we account for the complementary distribution of overt Case and$\unicode[STIX]{x1D719}$-Agree in Arabic. We also show how a host of other phenomena, including word order agreement asymmetries in Modern Standard Arabic and lack of such asymmetries in Arabic vernaculars, fares well with this view.

The effects of motivation on processing instruction in the acquisition of Modern Standard Arabic gender agreement

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-82
Author(s):  
Ayah Farhat ◽  
Alessandro Benati
Keyword(s):  
Academic Motivation ◽  
Processing Instruction ◽  
Gender Agreement ◽  
Modern Standard Arabic ◽  
Language Background ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Sentence Level ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Modern Standard

The present study investigates the effects of motivation and processing instruction on the acquisition of Modern Standard Arabic gender agreement. The role of individual differences (e.g. age, gender, aptitude, language background and working memory) on the positive effects generated by processing instruction has been investigated in the last few years. However, no previous research has been conducted to measure the possible effects of motivation on L2 learners exposed to processing instruction. In addition, a reasonable question to be addressed within the processing instruction research framework is whether its positive effects can be generalised to the acquisition of Modern Standard Arabic. The Academic Motivation Scale (AMS) and the Attitude Motivation Test Battery (AMTB) motivation questionnaires were used to capture different variables that influence motivation in order to create the two different groups (high and low motivated). In this experimental study, forty-one native English school-age learners (aged 8–11) were assigned to two groups: ‘the high motivated group’ (n = 29): and the ‘low motivated group’ (n = 12). Both groups received processing instruction, which lasted for three hours. Sentence-level interpretation and production tasks were used in a pre-test and post-test design to measure instructional effects. The learners were required to fill in gaps in both written and spoken mode for the activities. The study also included a delayed post-test administered to the two groups four weeks later. The results indicated that both groups improved equally from pre-test to post-test in all assessment measures and they both retained the positive effects of the training in the delayed posttests. Processing instruction was proved to be the main factor for the improvement in performance regardless of the learner’s level of motivation.

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